Warm Rain
by Kuroitsuki
Summary: A short fic for dear Vivi-sama. A little bit odd, with a few spoilers.


You know the drill. FFIX belongs to Squaresoft. I do not gain money from this fanfic. Blah blah blah.

Look! Kuroi wrote a Vivific! ^^ I love Vivi, it's just that the Waltzies need me to write about them more. AA Anyhow, here's my tribute to Viv-sama... A little look at what might possibly have happened. Spoilers, probably. It's short and decent.

Enjoy...

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It had been quite some time since the evening that he and his companions had bid farewell. There had been a meteor shower. It had been almost like the night itself was falling to earth, with the rain of crystal-bright, glittering lights, like the tears of the stars. Like the shimmering streams of silver that rolled down his shadowed cheeks, tears of stars. Tears of black mages. He didn't ever want to ever have to leave his friends, and the haven he had found in their strength, for an world that looked even more desolate and lonely than it ever had. Didn't they see that he wasn't ready to stand on his own yet? How could they not see?

They all had their own very-important-things-to-do, and their own very-important-places-to-go, and plans-to-make, and were always-so-terribly-busy. They didn't-have-the-time. Duty-called them to their countries, unfinished-adventures-called them to the endless mountains and plains. It all drove him to the brink of despair.

He had a duty, too, didn't he? The other mages that lived in the village had relied on him, drawing from his knowledge of a world beyond cargo ships and forests. But now... time had passed. The others had begun to learn how to _learn_. They didn't need him anymore, now that they had the Genomes and each other, and a future. Maybe they would stop, someday, but they might be able to keep their happiness until the end...

The weather was in a similar humor. The sky churned, sickly gray, the sheet of clouds spreading from horizon to horizon. There was a flash of lightning, lighting up the room for a brief moment, and then a roll of deep, resounding thunder. Rain began to strike the roof, drops of water leaking through and forming a dreary puddle in the middle of the floor.

He found his hands involuntarily moving to light a candle. He had been trying to write for the last few nights, but he gave up, disgusted. He sat there for a while, resting an elbow on the pile of ink-splattered parchment, gazing at the opposite wall. The hut had been hastily constructed only a few months ago, to serve as his own private shelter. Something had driven him to the far end of the village, away from the welcoming smiles of the others, as if felt they needed more freedom... or perhaps it was he that needed more freedom.

There was a slight wind blowing that slipped between the cracks in the walls and ceiling, slinking across the floor and disappearing out the opposite side, leaving the small mage nothing except a quiet, mysterious whisper imprinted in his memory. Feeling the currents of icy air billowing about the floor, he thought he saw _Mist_ floating there for a moment... but of course that couldn't be. Perhaps... perhaps he was, at long last, going completely mad. Perhaps these were his last conscious thoughts before he totally lost his mind.

Perhaps this was what it was like to... stop?

He rose and moved slowly to the door, pushing the rickety thing open, and stepped out into the rain. It fell strong and heavy on his hat and shoulders, beating down onto him mercilessly, but not quite cruelly. He walked a few paces more, then stopped, and slowly raised a hand, facing the palm upwards, and closing his fingers around the droplets of water, as if trying to capture a few before they slipped away. The heavens had opened and unleashed their torrent of tears, cascading down to the unprotected earth, which would someday crumble beneath that pounding force.

He had never seen it rain so hard outside of that element's own realm. But then... then, he had been shivering, fearful, worried. Dreading what he would find, but, somehow, desperately wanting to understand. He had been so cold, beneath those icy skies. But this rain... was warm.

He tilted his head back, letting the water fall onto his face, caressing his cheeks and washing away his starlight tears. Its touch was soothing and soft, gentle... not demanding. He raised his arms as if to embrace the sky, drops of rain running down his sleeves, touching his skin, totally real, and comforting. A few strands of dark hair came loose... he paid them no mind. It was raining, and it was glorious...

His eyes closed, and all recollection of the rest of the world disappeared. He turned once, slowly, beneath the heavenly shower, then stopped, breathing its sweet scent, the touch of the water constant, eternal.

He was happy.

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If you would like to, you can review. I really appreciate reviews. If you don't want to, though, I can't make you. oo;


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